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Graduate Trainee Events 2006-2007
Back to current Graduate Trainee events.
Library visits:
- Cambridge University Library
- Norwich Cathedral and Millennium Libraries
- St Catharine's College Library
- Anglia Ruskin Library
- National Art Library
- Institute of Chartered Accountants
- Corpus Christi College
- Cambridge Conservation Consortium
- Oxford
Other visits and events:
- CILIP Open Day
- Association of UK Media Librarians Open Day
- Session on Library School applications
- Social gatherings
- Cambridge University Press
Training Opportunities
- Introduction to MARC21
- Introduction to electronic resources
- Subject resources
- Rare book cataloguing
- Various html/computing courses, available through the University Computing Service
- AACR2 training
Visit Reports
University Library
Cambridge University Library forms the centre of the libraries of the university. It is a formidable building from the outside and inside its book-lined walls and corridors stretch as far as the eye can see. As a legal deposit library, the UL is entitled to a copy of every book, paper or document copyrighted in the UK. This is an amazing resource for students of the university, but results in a massive backlog in the cataloguing of these books. Seeing row upon row of stacks of books awaiting attention of the cataloguers, one is given a true sense of the scale of the task. Even when you are aware of how many books the library holds, it is still impossible not to be amazed by the enormity of the institution.
Colin Clarkson, our guide to the building, was most informative providing us with an introductory talk about the long and complex history of the library which was fascinating, before leading us off into the maze of corridors. This behind-the-scenes tour really allowed us to see the scale of the operation that is the UL and gave us a better understanding of how the college and faculty libraries support the UL collections. Highlights of the tour included a trip to the top of the tower, where the collection of nineteenth century fiction held on the top floors showed a more light-hearted selection of the UL collections, and of course a visit to the infamous UL tea room!
Steven Archer, 24 January 2007
^Norwich Cathedral and Millennium Libraries
On December 6th we journeyed to Norwich, and spent the day touring the Cathedral Library and the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library.
The librarian at the Norwich Cathedral Library, Mrs Gudrun Warren, kindly introduced us to one of the largest modern theological collections in East Anglia, comprising some 30,000 volumes, 30 periodicals and an historic collection (mainly pre-1851) of around 8,000 books. Set against the backdrop of a magnificent cathedral, this lovely library blends the old with the new.
In the afternoon, we toured the busy Norfolk and Norwich Millenium Library under the guidance of librarian Catherine Wymer. This library provides a dizzying array of services including an "express section" of paperback titles which are displayed in a non-traditional "book store" format, a vibrant children's section all decked out in primary colours, the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library, an extensive general collection, a business section and the Heritage Centre collection on local history.
The two tours provided a useful contrast between specialist-academic and public libraries. All who attended found it to be an informative, enjoyable day.
Anna Thompson, 22 January 2007
^St Catharine's College Library
On 28 September 2006, the Graduate Trainees were invited to visit St. Catharine's College Library. Suzan Griffiths, the College Librarian, introduced us to the modern part of the undergraduate library and discussed with us the challenges that face librarians who work as the sole member of staff. The college is very fortunate to have received books from the collection of John Addenbrooke (founder of Addenbrooke's Hospital) and Frances Wetherall who catalogued the donation, gave a most interesting talk about the collection and its history, and had selected a range of the books and formed a wonderful exhibition from these.
We were also fortunate enough to be taken to the old library, known as the Sherlock library. With its beautifully crafted shelves lining the walls and sympathetically designed furniture it seemed a wonderful location in which to study. It was also interesting to see how the library operates a self-issue system due to it being an un-staffed library. Suzan also took us down into the depths of the College to visit the Rare Books Room, housed in the basement. This was a real surprise, and the college has an impressive rare books collection of some 25,000 volumes.
Steven Archer, 8 February 2007
^Anglia Ruskin Library
“Did you know there are two universities in Cambridge?” So reads one of the advertising bylines for Anglia Ruskin University, whose Cambridge campus we visited on Febuary 22, in the company of Jenny Cefai, Academic Liaison Librarian for Arts, Law & Social Sciences.
Two types of university, and two types of library. The library stock itself caters for the very different vocational, part–time, and digital media courses run by ARU. A recent, highly successful, renovation re–organized the library into areas to suit the varying needs and requirements of students: a group study area, bookable group discussion rooms, a learning zone with PCs and various silent study areas.
The library aims for a seamless interaction between old and new media, paper books and ebooks, the physical space of the older building redesigned according to twenty–first century needs. The students seem happy with the library's recent transformation, and so do the librarians. And with light, space, books, computers and a library which caters fantastically well to a university whose stated goal is to be a progressive, accessible, relevant, supportive and expert place of study, why wouldn't they be?
Colin Higgins, 21 March 2007
^National Art Library
On 27 March, the trainees made their way down to London for visits to two very different libraries: the National Art Library (based at the Victoria and Albert Museum ) in the morning, and the library of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in the afternoon.
At the National Art Library, we were greeted by Jennie Farmer, Assistant Librarian at the Word and Image department, who gave us a tour. The library is a public reference one, open to all, and we were shown the public areas, before being taken behind the scenes to the stacks and the staff work area. The library houses a number of special collections, including the Forster collection, whose 18,000 items includes a number of the original manuscripts and corrected proofs of Charles Dickens's novels, and the Renier collection of children's literature, which comprises some 80,000 books.
To round off the tour, Jennie had prepared a small exhibition of examples of book art, which provided some beautiful - and strange! - examples of how artists create books to be works of art. All in all, it was a fascinating visit.
Rebecca Gower, 18 May 2007
^Institute of Chartered Accountants
The Library and Information Service of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales provided an interesting contrast to our morning visit to the National Art Library. All of the staff at the library were very welcoming and had put-together a well-structured and informative programme for the afternoon, providing valuable insight into a world outside of academic libraries.
None of us had any experience of a library service where the vast majority of members never set foot in the library building. However, this is how daily life operates here. Members fax, phone or email the enquiry team. Professional librarians on the desk are the first port of call. They trace relevant information and then pass responsibility to the library assistants who process and send the information. This usually involves posting books out on loan and/or finding and faxing copies of journal articles. As you would expect from a library such as this, many services are provided electronically through their catalogue and eLibrary. Despite most members never visiting the premises, there are of course some who do use the London office so the library also provides study spaces and several PCs which they are hoping to expand into a state-of-art business centre in the near future.
Sandra Cunningham, 13 July 2007
^Corpus Christi College
April 2007
^Cambridge Conservation Consortium
As part of our visit to Corpus Christi College, we were lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to visit the Conservation Consortium which has its base in the College. As part of the digitisation project all of the medieval manuscripts in the collection are being restored and repaired by the conservation team before being photographed and hosted on a server in Stamford University.
The College has created a state-of-the-art conservation facility and was certainly a change in scenery to the historic Parker Library. The conservation staff, Melvyn Jefferson, Elizabeth Bradshaw and Edward Cheese, talked about their work giving examples of their varied skills and impressive techniques. An wide range of procedures were demonstrated from tipping the edges of worn pages to repairing and restoring the original bindings of the books, and it was fascinating to see the differences between the tools used in their work: modern and hi-tech machinery sits quite happily side-by-side much older equipment such as the rack on which the binding threads are supported. This rack was used to show us how supported and unsupported sewing techniques differed and both were explained and illustrated providing us with a real insight into the archaeology of the medieval book. The Consortium use cutting-edge technology to preserve material, some of which were quite surprising to see, including freeze-drying, de-and re-humidifying and vacuum packing.
The Consortium, although based at Corpus, is made up by eight of the Cambridge Colleges who are working together in order to preserve the University's collections for future generations. Visit their website for more details Cambridge Conservation Consortium.
Steven Archer, 11 May 2007
^Oxford
July 2007
The 9th of July marked the occasion of the graduate trainee trip to Oxford. This was the furthest afield that we had gone together, and the necessity of travelling there and back by coach evoked happy memories of school trips past.
Our first stop amidst the honey coloured austerity was the well-known Bodleian library. Having been the main Oxford University library for more than 400 years, it oozes idiosyncratic charm and tradition as well as being an up to date resource for thousands of contemporary scholars. The highlight of the trip was seeing the Maginot line style underground book transportation corridor, allowing books to be circulated between the main building and the nearby circular Radcliffe Camera library. We also marvelled at the 'old library' or the 'Harry Potter library' as it is now better known due to an appearance in one of the recent films. Afterwards we paid a flying visit to the futuristic, partly underground Radcliffe Science library.
Post lunch, we toured the Nuffield College library (enjoying the views over Oxford from the library tower) and the Sackler Art library, whose librarians gained our respect for dealing with four book classification systems concurrently! Both tours were very interesting and informative.
Before heading home, we met up with several Graduate Trainee librarians from various libraries in Oxford at a local pub to discuss the experiences of the past year and our plans for the future.
Our thanks go to everyone who helped to make the day such an enjoyable experience.
Tom Morse, 18th July 2007
^Events Reports
CILIP Open Day
Early in Autumn 2006, the Cambridge library trainees took part in the CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) Open day, which was held at the CILIP Headquarters in North London. Guided by Colin and his impeccable sense of direction, we arrived in good time and were immediately plied with free gifts and more importantly free food.
The day consisted of a number of parallel talks and activities which allowed us to gain an insight into CILIP itself and the skills that up and coming 21st century information managers and librarians need. The highlights of the morning were a talk on the benefits of becoming "chartered" i.e. approved by CILIP and a predictably good presentation on presentation skills.
After a generous free lunch, the social butterflies among us indulged themselves at a "speed networking" session which enabled them to meet library and information professionals from a variety of fields, e.g. the private sector, schools, prisons and academia. This session really underlined the fantastic breadth of the library and information work employment sector.
Other sessions in the afternoon included a guided tour of the CILIP buildings, a C.V. clinic and a talk on the best ways to approach applying to library schools. It was nice to meet some of last years Cambridge graduate trainees there as well and chat to them about their trainee year and their future plans.
Tom Morse, 25 January 2007
^Assocation of UK Media Librarians Open Day
On 13th November 2006, the trainees went down to London to attend an open day for new information professionals held by AUKML (Association of UK Media Librarians) and ICLG (Industrial and Commercial Libraries Group).
The programme for the day was a wide-ranging and interesting one. In the morning, there was a talk about library school from Professor Charles Oppenheim of Loughborough University, and a presentation from Sue Hill Recruitment. We were then given the opportunity to visit the nearby Wellcome Library.
After lunch, we had a series of talks which demonstrated a number of possible career options for new librarians. Among them were Richard Nelsson and Alan Power of the Guardian newspaper, who emphasised the many positive aspects of their job, not least the variety of work they enjoyed on a day-to-day basis, but warned that journalists are not necessarily the politest of co-workers; and Jennifer Smith, who told us about her experience of working in legal libraries.
All in all, it was fascinating day, which revealed the sheer range of different work open to those working in the information profession.
Rebecca Gower, 19 January 2007
^Session on Library School Applications
This talk, held on 21st November 2006, provided an excellent opportunity to consider issues that arise when researching postgraduate courses and to ask specific questions about interviews and the application process.
We were advised of the need to investigate the research interests of faculty staff before choosing a university, as this will inevitably impact the focus of the course. The issue of AHRC funding was also addressed with reference to how the system works and what to expect.
The advantages and disadvantages of part-time study were also discussed and the following issues were highlighted: the need to self-finance, finding time to study and the effect that choosing a part-time course may have on optional modules. We would like to thank Celine Carty (University Library) for organising the event, and the speakers, Dr. Claire Warwick (University College London) and Alice Hine (Divinity Faculty Library).
Sandra Cunningham, 15 January 2007
^Social Gatherings
One of the main attractions of the Cambridge Graduate Trainee programme is the opportunity to share the experience with others. As many trainees are new to Cambridge it is useful to have a ready-made social network. The trainees support, entertain and learn from each other and the social aspect certainly enhances the year.
Aside from our training sessions and organised trips, we decided to meet on a weekly basis to share cataloguing anecdotes, gossip, tea and cake. These meetings have proved to be a great success (although arranging a time to suit eight people is often very challenging!). I know we all agree that the endless round of e-mails are worth it, especially when these gatherings culminated in a pizza party (and far too much food) at the end of Michaelmas Term and a daring plan for the first ever CATALOG hoodies/t-shirts!
Sandra Cunningham, 15 January 2007
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